what would you do if you were to put yourself in the place that tim geithner is or john boehner is. how would you play this? >> well, i think it's very important that the -- that the top levels of both parties are involved in the negotiation and that they get together as soon as possible because what we really need is grand bargain to deal with the state of our economy. we're fiscally bankrupt. if we didn't have the dollar, we might be greece. we have a deal with our debt bomb. giev tot face the fiscal cliff that's coming in a couple of weeks. >> so you know what both sides are saying. the president is saying there's no way to make the math work without raising the rates for the top income earners and that the republicans should give in on this. >> yeah, yeah. >> do you think he's right? >> well, i understand that position. that was the position he took during the campaign. but what has to happen in my view, you've got to have everything on the table. yo view to have revenue increases. now, how you get those revenue increases was an item of discussion during the campaign. it are be